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THE FLASH: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
RELEASE DATE: 23/09/15 FORMAT: BD/DVD
DC Comics’ “fastest man alive”, Barry Allen,
gets a modern reworking in this CW series.
Glee’s Grant Gustin stars as the eponymous
Central City crimefighter, whose superhuman
speed is the result of being hit by a lightning
bolt. Backed up by his brilliant friends, Cisco
Ramon (Carlos Valdes), Dr. Harrison Wells
(Tom Cavanagh) and Caitlin Snow (Danielle
Panabaker), Barry strives to uncover the
identity of the mysterious “streak” that killed
his mother, and unravel the moral ambiguity
of time travel. Throw in regular cameos from
CW’s other smash hit, Arrow, and you’re in
for a very Harrison Wells-done show.
Cool running
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AQUARIUS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
RELEASE DATE: 09/09/15 FORMAT: BD/DVD
It’s a bit glib to describe David Duchovny’s
latest TV incarnation as being a composite of
the two characters that he is best known for:
The X Files’ Fox Mulder and Californication’s
Hank Moody. However, the DNA from both
those creations can be found in Detective
Sam Hodiak, the lead character in this
new crime show set in Los Angeles of the
late ‘60s. Like Mulder, Hodiak is a brilliant,
instinctive detective who has little time for
the rulebook, while his laidback, laconic
charm (and success with the ladies) is not a
million miles away from Hank.
That said, the show Aquarius most closely
resembles is Michael Mann’s under-rated
‘80s series Crime Story, which was set in
the early 60s and pitted a hard-nosed cop
against a rising mob boss. Here, though, the
main villain is a real life one, Charlie Manson
(played by Gethin Anthony, best known for
his role as Renly Baratheon in the first two
seasons of Game Of Thrones), who has
yet to graduate to mass murder but is busy
assembling a devoted cult of followers on
an isolated ranch outside the city. He comes
into Hodiak’s orbit when the detective is
asked by an old flame (Michaela McManus)
to find her missing teenage daughter (Emma
Dumont) who has fallen under the spell of
Manson; the latter also turns out to have a
mysterious hold over
her politician father
(Brían F. O’Bryne).
However, the Manson
angle is just one of
a number of the first
season’s story arcs:
undercover hippie cop Brian Shafe (Grey
Damon) is trying to infiltrate a heroin ring,
rookie policewoman Charmaine Tully (Claire
Holt) is fighting to be taken seriously as
a cop, while Hodiak’s soldier son Walt
(Chris Sheffield) has deserted from the
army following his experiences in Vietnam.
With storylines that also take in issues
such as the rise of the Black Panthers and
hate crimes, Aquarius is an appealingly
gritty crime drama that also offers a stylish
evocation of an era when the hippie dream
began to sour. Let’s hope the second season
lives up to the high standards set here.
Helter skelter
EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
RELEASE DATE: 09/09/15 FORMAT: DVD
This hip hop saga has been the US TV
sensation of the year and it’s not hard to see
why. Empire is essentially a throwback to the
glossy big business family series of the ‘80s
like Dynasty and Dallas , but spiced up with
some ghetto grit and storylines that take in
both the creative and business sides of the
music industry. Terrence Howard stars as a
drug dealer turned rapper who has built a
hugely successful entertainment business
that he is now planning to float on the stock
exchange. Unfortunately, he has also been
diagnosed with an incurable disease, so he
secretly sets about grooming one of his three
sons – a brilliant but arrogant rapper, an MBA
business graduate with mental issues and
a gay R&B singer-songwriter who has been
forced by dad to keep his sexuality secret – to
succeed him as heir. However, complicating
things is the return of
his scheming ex-wife
(Taraji P. Henson), who
took the fall for his old
criminal activities and
now wants a share
of his wealth. The
wonderfully eclectic
supporting cast includes Judd Nelson,
Naomi Campbell, Courtney Love and Jennifer
Hudson, while music fans will appreciate
cameos from stars such as Snoop Dogg,
Gladys Knight and Rita Ora. Guilty pleasures
don’t come more enjoyable than this.
Get rich or die tryin’